


new year's day

by 1980shorrorfilm



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Gini - Freeform, basically just 4000 words of soft gini, mention of alcohol/underage drinking, minimal angst, nonbinary lesbian gina, pansexual Nini, ricky bowen doesn't exist, wlw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:54:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24841870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1980shorrorfilm/pseuds/1980shorrorfilm
Summary: The day after her new year’s eve party, Nini wakes up and finds that an unexpected person stayed to help her clean up the mess.But a part of her hopes that Gina stayed for another reason too.
Relationships: Gina Porter & Nini Salazar-Roberts, Gina Porter/Nini Salazar-Roberts, gini - Relationship
Comments: 1
Kudos: 42





	new year's day

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by the song "new year's day" by taylor swift

The sunlight streaming through the windows in the living room hurts Nini’s eyes as she sleepily makes her way out of the bathroom, stumbling over discarded solo cups and balloons lying deflated on the floor. She’s not exactly hungover, but she did have enough to drink that the harshness of the light gives her a bit of a headache. She checks her phone to see what time it is, finding a few Snapchats and some unread texts from the group chat. 

**ej:** hey it got kinda late in the day and the parents wanted us home

**seb:** most of us headed out but we didn’t wanna wake u up

**kourt:** yeah you crashed pretty hard

**ash:** sorry we didn’t stay to help clean up!! kourt and i have a thing!!

**howie:** thank you for hosting!!

**red:** had a blast :D

**carlos:** love u neens

Nini rolls her eyes at Ashlyn’s lack of subtlety. They thought they were being subtle last night too, when they snuck off with Kourtney right before the ball dropped. Nini assumes one of them must have stopped being useless long enough to ask the other on a date, and that’s what the ‘thing’ they have going on together is.

Nini types out a quick response, realizing it’s two in the afternoon. She can’t believe she slept that long. Nini’s not mad that they all left, just a little frustrated she’s gonna have to clean up the mess by herself. And she realizes the only person that she hasn’t heard from is Gina, which makes her heart sink a little in her chest. It’s not uncommon; Gina’s always quiet in the group chat. But Nini’s always hoping that something will change. 

It’s not like they hate each other. Far from it, actually. Ever since opening night, things have been different for them. Nini wouldn’t exactly call them best friends, but they text every now and then, share laughs at lunch sometimes, and she gets that familiar fluttery feeling in her stomach whenever Gina smiles in her direction. 

Last night, everyone but Seb and Carlos stood there awkwardly, not having a partner to kiss when the clock struck twelve. (Aside from Ashlyn and Kourtney, but they were nowhere to be seen.) EJ was drunk beyond reason, standing on the table livestreaming with some of the dancers. Howie playfully kissed Red’s cheek, and the smaller boy’s face turned as red as his hair. They’ve been like that for weeks, all gentle touches and soft flirting. It’s only a matter of time before the two of them get together. Nini was content to watch it all unfold, seeing as she wasn’t gonna get to kiss who she wanted anyway. But then Gina came wandering over with her hands in her pockets, smiling that shy smile that makes Nini feel like her knees are made of jello. 

“Mind if I join you in your sulking?” Gina said, leaning against the wall next to Nini. 

Nini shook her head. Despite her supposed sulking, she couldn’t keep the smile off her face as she looked over at the girl next to her. “I’m not sulking. Just… being alone.” 

“Fair enough,” Gina nodded. She paused for a moment, adjusting her position from where she was leaning on the wall. “Well, then, can I  _ be alone _ with you?” 

“Yeah, I think I can manage that.” Nini replied, ignoring the way her heart was hammering in her chest.

“Alone together, then,” Gina said, nudging Nini with her shoulder. Nini looked over at Gina, expecting to see her quietly observing the noisy group in front of them again. Instead, she found the girl staring back at her with that same hesitant smile. 

“Yeah, alone together,” she echoed, returning the smile and ignoring the pounding in her chest. Maybe it was the haze of alcohol or everyone chanting a countdown to midnight around them, but Nini found it especially difficult to not kiss Gina right then.

A clanging sound in the kitchen pulls Nini from her thoughts, fear jolting through her. Her moms won’t be back until tomorrow and everyone from the party left, so Nini has no idea who the hell is in her kitchen. 

“Oh, hey!” Gina says cheerily, coming around the corner. “You’re finally awake!”

“What are you doing here?” Nini says, all too aware that she’s wearing her wrinkled clothes from yesterday and her breath probably smells like stale alcohol. Gina’s eyes widen a little at her harsh tone, and Nini takes a deep breath. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. You just scared me a little.”

“No worries. I just… I didn’t want to leave you by yourself.” Gina gestures around, and it’s only then that Nini realizes the kitchen is nearly spotless. Gina’s standing at the counter, whisking something in a bowl. Gina did this by herself, all before Nini even managed to get out of bed. 

_ Gina stayed,  _ Nini thinks, trying to process it all. She tries to remind herself that it’s probably not because Gina likes her back; she probably just felt bad that Nini would have to clean up by herself.  _ But what if it’s more than that.  _ Nini doesn’t wanna get her hopes up, but it’s hard. Especially since Gina looks the way she does, even in her clothes from yesterday and an old apron that belongs to one of Nini’s moms wrapped around her torso. She sighs. “You can go, if you want to.” 

“I don’t want to,” Gina says carefully. “Unless  _ you _ want me to.”

“No!” Nini responds, a little too quickly. A blush creeps over her cheeks as she looks down at the floor. “I mean, I’m happy you stayed.”

Nini attempts to stamp down that fluttery feeling in her chest when a smile breaks onto Gina’s face, but it doesn’t do much good. The girl doesn’t even look real, with the way the sunlight casts a warm glow onto Gina’s skin and illuminates the mess of curls on top of her head. “You’re gonna be even happier once these pancakes are done.” 

“You didn’t have to make breakfast,” Nini says softly. She hopes her blush isn’t too bright as she averts her gaze from Gina. 

“If we’re being technical, this would actually be lunch,” Gina chuckles. 

Nini rolls her eyes, but she’s still smiling so wide it hurts her face. “Okay, smartass.”

Gina gasps, feigning hurt. She tries to throw a hand dramatically across her forehead, but with whisk in hand, she ends up flinging batter onto her face. Gina stares at her with wide eyes for a moment, until Nini bursts out laughing. She covers her face with her hands, trying and failing to stop her giggling. She looks up at Gina, who’s shaking her head, laughing quietly to herself. There’s batter speckled across her face, and she sets the whisk down, trying to find something to wipe it off. Nini manages to suppress her laughter enough to grab some paper towel. 

“Smooth, Porter,” Gina mutters under her breath. She shakes her head as she takes the paper towel from Nini. “Real smooth.” 

“Hey, it was cute,” Nini says, without really meaning to. She immediately blushes harder, and Gina bites back a smile.

Nini watches Gina carefully wipe off her face until she turns toward Nini. “Good?”

“You got a little… here,” Nini breathes, barely above a whisper. She cups the side of Gina’s face, using her thumb to wipe the last bit of batter off her cheek. Nini’s eyes wander across Gina’s face, trailing down to her lips. They’re standing close to each other, close enough that Nini could lean forward and… 

“Uh, thank you,” Gina mumbles, stepping out of Nini’s reach. She gives Nini a small smile as she scratches the back of her neck. “Sorry about that. I’m supposed to be helping you clean, not make another mess.”

Nini can’t help but smile at Gina’s adorable awkwardness. She punches the other girl playfully in the shoulder. “Just try not to make any more, yeah?”

She stares at Nini for a long moment. Maybe it’s her imagination, but Nini swears Gina’s eyes flit down to her lips as she murmurs, “No promises.”

* * *

“How is there  _ this much  _ glitter?” Nini groans as she turns off the vacuum for the third time already. After they had pancakes, the two of them decided to tackle the living room. Gina’s been picking up trash, throwing away cups and sorting bottles into the recycling. She’s nearly finished; there’s only a few cans left, lying on the table. 

Nini, on the other hand, feels like she’s made no progress trying to clean up the glitter and confetti that managed to cover nearly the entire floor. It took her forever to sweep it all off the hardwood, and the rug still seems to be coated in it, no matter how many times she runs the vacuum. Gina laughs from where she stands on the other side of the room, shaking her head. “Blame Howie and Red. They got a little too crazy with the party poppers last night.” 

“Seriously? If they’d stayed to help clean up I could be making them do this.” Nini groans. “Where did they have to rush off to anyway?” 

Gina shrugs. “They left last night. Something about going to McDonald’s. Red wanted a Happy Meal, and you know Howie can’t say no to him.” 

Nini snorts. “I guess that would explain the picture of him and Howie battling with  _ My Little Pony _ action figures on his Snapchat, then.” 

Gina rolls her eyes. “God, those two idiots are so whipped.”

“Are they ever gonna admit they like each other? It’s getting hard to watch.” 

“For real!” Gina throws her hands up in exasperation. Nini realizes how wide her eyes have gotten as she makes her way over. “And the way they were last night? Red didn’t stop blushing for like twenty minutes after Howie kissed him on the cheek.”

“They’re both messes,” Nini giggles, shaking her head. 

“But to be fair, if the person I liked kissed me on the cheek, I’d probably look like a fire hydrant for the rest of my life,” Gina admits. She sits down carefully on the arm of the couch, her legs crossed in front of her. Nini’s not entirely sure how she managed to balance herself like that, but it’s also Gina. She’s got more grace in her pinky finger, than Nini (who’s known to be a bit of a klutz) probably has in her entire body. 

Again, that fluttery excitement surges in Nini's chest, and it takes everything in her to remain calm. She arches her eyebrow. “Got your eye on someone, Porter?” 

“Yeah,” Gina sighs. “But I don’t know that anything will come of it.” 

“Why’s that,” Nini asks, still trying to keep her voice level. Nonchalant.

“I don’t know if she likes me back… or if she even likes girls,” Gina responds quietly. Nini’s heart thumps harder in her chest; she wasn’t expecting that response. But, then again, Gina’s been surprising her since the day they met. 

“Maybe you should ask her,” Nini says hesitantly. 

Gina looks up. “You think so?”

All Nini can do is nod, not entirely trusting herself to speak. 

“Hey, um, Nini?” Gina’s voice is so soft Nini can barely hear it over the sound of her own heartbeat. “Do you like girls? Uh, this one, more specifically?”

No words come out of Nini’s mouth. She just stands there with her jaw on the floor and her eyes fixed on Gina. The other girl squirms under her gaze, uncomfortable with the silence filling the space between them. After the silence drags on a little too long, Gina lets out a heavy breath, shaking her head.

“Okay. I just… never mind. Wishful thinking.” Gina slips off the arm of the couch and onto her feet, not looking up from the floor as she starts across the room. She glances up at Nini, who’s still standing there wide-eyed, and gestures weakly to the front door. “Maybe I should just go.” 

“No, wait!” Nini has to force the words out of her mouth. She manages to unstick her feet from where they seemed to be glued to the ground and wills herself to move forward. But her foot gets caught on something, and suddenly Nini is tumbling to the ground. She lands with an  _ umph  _ sound on the carpet, realizing she tripped on the cord to the vacuum cleaner. All because of the _ stupid  _ glitter _.  _

“Neens, are you okay?” Gina rushes over, concern evident in her voice. 

“All good,” Nini groans, covering her face with one hand. Gina is crouched over her, hands resting cautiously on the sides of Nini’s arms as she looks down at the other girl. Gina’s fingertips burn holes in the sleeves of her sweater, and Nini’s entirely sure Gina can see that she’s blushing like an idiot. Nini pulls her hand away from her face, looking up to hold Gina’s gaze for a moment.  _ Now or never.  _

“I do, for the record,” Nini murmurs, british accent slipping through slightly. “Doc Martens, cuffed jeans, Girl in Red. Well, Janelle Monáe, if we’re being technical… I’m pan.”

"Oh." Gina smiles, and Nini sees her relax the slightest bit. “Very cool.”

Nini lifts up her leg to nudge Gina’s. “How about you?” 

“Lesbian,” Gina says. She pauses for a moment. “Nonbinary too, I think.”

Nini nods, her smile unwavering as she looks up at Gina. “Any ideas on pronouns?” 

“She and they, I think,” Gina says quietly. “I’m still figuring it out, though.”

“Very cool,” Nini repeats, and she sees Gina’s cheeks flush the slightest bit.

Gina stares at her for a long moment, but Nini can’t quite read the expression on their face. After a few seconds they pull their eyes away from Nini, shaking their head. “Come on. I’ll help you up.” 

They start to stand up so they can help Nini off the the floor, but Nini stops them. “Gina, wait.” 

They're back at her side immediately, hands still resting cautiously on Nini’s arms. Nini blushes at how close the two of them are; Gina’s face hovers a few inches above hers as they look down at her in concern. Gina’s eyebrows furrow at Nini’s nervous expression. “Nini, wh—”

Nini grabs the collar of Gina’s shirt and pulls them down until their lips meet hers. Gina stumbles in surprise, trying to regain her balance without pulling out of the kiss. Gina let’s out a little  _ umph  _ sound against Nini’s lips as they drop onto their knees to avoid falling on top of Nini. The girl laughs into the kiss, and she opens her eyes to glimpse at Gina. 

A moment later, Nini breaks away from Gina so she can sit up. As much as she doesn’t want to stop kissing them, she knows it can’t be comfortable for them to have to lean over like that. They meet eyes, both blushing like idiots as they exchange nervous smiles. 

“Here,” Gina murmurs. Nini feels her face flush as Gina grabs her by the hands and pulls her up onto her feet. When she rights herself on the ground, Nini realizes how close she’s standing to Gina. Closer than when they were in the kitchen— only, Gina doesn’t back away this time. 

Gina’s eyes wander away from Nini's, and she gestures hesitantly at the side of Nini’s head. “You, uh, have glitter in your hair.” 

Nini groans dramatically, looking back down at the ground. It still kind of looks like a disco ball exploded on the rug. “I’m gonna kill Red and Howie.” 

“I got it,” Gina chuckles softly. They reach their hand out and brush the glitter out of her hair, and Nini’s breath hitches in her throat as the skin of Gina’s hand grazes the side of her face. Gina looks back at her, letting their hand fall to their side. 

“Thanks,” Nini breathes. It falls silent again, and eyes flit down to Gina’s lips. She takes a deep breath. “I wanted to kiss you. Last night, when the ball dropped. I wanted to kiss you before that too, but I was scared.”

Gina smiles smugly. “You didn’t seem so scared a minute ago.” 

Nini blushes even harder, if that’s possible. “Yeah, well, it gets a little less scary when you know the person you like actually likes you back.” 

“So you like me?” Gina asks, a playful smile on their lips. 

“No, that was a friend kiss.” Nini rolls her eyes. Gina snorts, mumbling something Nini can’t quite make out under her breath, and Nini nudges them with her shoulder. “ _ Yes _ . I like you, Gina.” 

Gina stares at Nini with that same soft look from earlier. The small smile gracing their lips seems to be permanently etched into their face. “I wanted to kiss you last night too, you know.” 

“Why didn’t you?” 

“Why didn’t  _ you _ ?” Gina counters, raising their eyebrows.

“Touche.” Nini shakes her head. She looks up at Gina. The usually unreadable teen has an open expression on their face, and Nini knows Gina wants to say something else. She looks nervous, so Nini carefully reaches for her hand in what she hopes is a comforting gesture. “But it’s more than that, isn’t it?” 

“Yeah,” Gina says softly, nodding. “I just… I had my first kiss on New Year’s Eve. There was a party on the roof of our apartment building. It was with some girl from the floor above mine who only came up to me because everyone else had already paired off. And she just kissed me… and that was it. We didn’t even speak to each other after that night, and I ended up moving a month later. I know it’s not the same, but I didn’t want this—us— to be like that.” Gina looks up hesitantly. “Does that sound stupid?” 

“Not at all,” Nini assures them. “That moment with her was fleeting… this feels more permanent, right?” 

“Yeah,” Gina agrees thoughtfully. The relief is evident in their voice, and Nini’s glad they felt comfortable enough to explain it to her. They give her a small shrug. “I guess I just wanted you to know that I’m not going anywhere. 'Cause people can say they won't all they want to, but then they do.”

Nini is in awe of the person in front of her.  _ That’s why Gina stayed. _ Gina, who’s had a lack of consistency for pretty much their entire life, wanted to show _Nini_ they weren’t going to leave. It wasn’t about cleaning up at all. She reaches her hands out, gently cupping the sides of Gina’s face as she moves closer to them. Nini’s not entirely sure they’ll believe her, but she still says, “You know I’m not either, right?”

Gina doesn’t respond. Instead, they press their forehead against Nini’s and sigh. It’s not heavy, but relieved. Content. Somehow, Nini understands them perfectly. They stand like that for a while, silently soaking up the silence (much more comfortable than earlier) enveloping them. 

“Do you remember what I said last night?” Gina asks after a few minutes. She doesn’t pull her forehead away from Nini’s. “About being alone together?” 

“I recall.” 

“Do you think you’d maybe wanna do that again? At dinner or something?” 

“Gina Porter.” Nini pulls back to meet their eyes, a sly smile on her face. “Are you asking me out?” 

“Yeah.” Gina nods, swallowing nervously. “Is that okay?”

Nini grins at her. “Yes, Gi. I’d love to go on a date with you.” 

“Very cool,” Gina says, echoing their conversation from earlier. Nini rolls her eyes before kissing Gina again. It’s gentler than last time, less urgent. 

But then the doorbell rings. Gina flinches slightly at the noise, and Nini runs her thumb across their cheek, smiling in reassurance. “So much for being alone, right?”

Gina exhales a little shakily, but they crack a smile. “I’ll get it.” 

They reluctantly pull away from Nini and walk over to open the door. Red, Howie, Kourtney, and Ashlyn stand on Nini’s front step, all wearing apologetic looks. 

“Hi, Gina! Hi, Nini!” Red greets them with a wave. 

Nini walks over to stand next to Gina. “What are you guys doing here?”

Ashlyn smiles sheepishly. “We felt bad about leaving you to clean up the mess yourselves, so we wanted to make it up to you. Seb, Carlos, and EJ are on their way.” 

“We brought chicken nuggets,” Howie says excitedly. He holds up two large McDonald’s bags with one hand, and Nini looks down to see his other one linked with Big Red’s. Nini looks over at Gina, who gives her a knowing look. 

“So are you two just gonna stand there?” Kourtney asks. “Or are you gonna let us in?” 

“Alright, alright,” Nini accedes, stepping out of the doorway and pulling Gina with her so their friends can come inside. 

“Wait!” Gina steps back into their path, crossing their arms over their chest skeptically. “Did you bring sweet and sour sauce?” 

Howie scoffs at them. “What is this? Amateur hour? Of  _ course _ we brought sweet and sour.” 

“Then welcome,” Gina says, gesturing for them to come inside. As their friends make their way in, Nini looks over at Gina, once again completely awestruck by the other teen. 

Seb and Carlos show up a few minutes later, with EJ in tow. The group of friends all crowd around Nini’s small kitchen table, cramming extra chairs in at awkward angles. Ashlyn and Red take it upon themselves to make sure the chicken nuggets are distributed fairly among all of them, separating them into nine equal groups before they let anyone touch the food. As Red passes Nini and Gina’s plates over to them, Nini makes it very clear to both him and Howie that they will be cleaning the rest of the confetti out of the rug. They both open their mouths like they’re going to argue, but Gina shoots them a look that makes any protest die in their throats. 

As Kourtney and Ashlyn start telling some story about the crazy couple that was sitting at the table next to them at lunch today, Nini lets her head fall onto Gina’s shoulder. They silently turn and kiss the top of Nini’s head, and in return, Nini presses a kiss to Gina’s shoulder before directing her attention back to the story. Kourtney notices their gestures of affection, making some sarcastic comment about the two of them finally getting together. This starts a brutal exchange between all of them as they have a debate over which couple was the most clueless— Kourtney and Ashlyn, Gina and Nini, or Howie and Red (who, despite the handholding and cheek kisses, still haven’t managed to establish a relationship— or even ask the other on an official date.)

Then Ashlyn makes some pointed remark to Red about he and Howie that Gina finds particularly funny, and it sends them into a laughing fit. When Gina buries their face into her Neck, Nini just smiles contently, playing with their fingers in her lap. She knows they still have a lot to talk about, and there are other factors to consider outside of their little ‘ _ alone together _ ’ bubble. But with her friends all swapping playful insults back and forth, and Gina trying (and failing) to muffle their giggles into her shoulder, Nini is sure of two things: 

  1. They’re going to figure it all out. 
  2. She’s really glad Gina stayed. 



**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed!
> 
> find me on twitter @LOVEPlLAR (the I is a lowecase L!!)


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